Ahahahah, remember when I said I’d be trying to keep up with the blog more and that maybe I’d make video blogs, too, sometimes and that I’d do ALL KINDS OF THINGS? Yeah, about that– Sorry.

It’s seriously almost been a year since I posted an actual blog. Many, many things have happened between then and here. I actually have to look back through the previous posts (and, oh God, Facebook) to see what the hell I’ve been up to since last December. If you’ve been following my Twitter (@LWhoScribbles) at all, I’ve been a tiiiiny bit better about showing signs of life over there– and by signs of life, of course, I mean evidence of my internet fueled writing-delinquency.

Neil says you should be writing

Oh, Tumblr.

That is not to say that I haven’t been scribbling away! Nay, as a matter of fact, I’ve been writing so much more since I quit the coffee bar to which they transfered me after the bakery damn near killed me! (Oh, yeah, that totally happened. And apparently I really, really love playing with the espresso machine! I don’t like / am physically almost incapable of drinking most espresso drinks, but I seriously miss the espresso machine. I just about had that milk steaming thing down!) I’ve been masquarading as a waitress in a Chinese food restaurant since January. It’s surprisingly been a lot of fun and it affords me a lot of time left to my own devices. I’m not getting paid much, but I can contribute to the house funds and the work itself isn’t difficult and my coworkers are all delightful and the boss lady is one of my favorite boss folk ever and they keep me well fed and having the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people on a regular basis is absolutely fascinating. I really like this job.

Anyway, I have several things I’m working on and I actually feel like I might Finish Something. That’s a huge deal to me right now. I just want to finish things and feel like they’re really done and ready for serious editing, AND THEN maybe even draft query letters to put them out into the world for real, for money, like a grown up. A real one. Maybe it’s a pipe dream, but damned if I’m not going to give it a go. This is currently my liiife. I’m pretty happy with it thus far. I’m not going to say a whole lot about each project, because, as I stated in previous posts, I’d prefer not to share things that aren’t complete. I am going to say that for All Hallow’s Read I’m only writing one short story this year and in place of the others I’m going to do the exact opposite of the thing I just said I don’t like doing; I’m going to share a small piece of one of my current babies. I’ll post those by Halloween night for sure. I’ll make it happen. No, really this time.

So there’s that.

In other news, much of the year passed without anything major to share. Job change, birthdays and holidays, one ill advised time-share presentation, friends coming and going to and from various places around the world. James (that guy I married, for those new to the show) got all his wisdom teeth removed and I had to drive for the first time in at least a year since getting my license. (I’m now driving regularly, thank you very much.) James got to keep his wisdom teeth after. They are now riding around in a little blue plastic treasure chest that we’re inexplicably keeping in the car. My sister visited and was the first to stay in our guest / storage room since we moved in over a year ago. We went to Neil Gaiman’s book signing in Dallas for “Ocean at the End of the Lane” where he signed my books and accepted the best origami t-rex I could make. He tried to doodle a t-rex for me very quickly in return. I really can’t say how much the experience meant to me.

Neil accepted the origami t-rex I made for him and tried to draw one for me in return.

That was the same trip on which we hunted down the 24 hour sushi place in downtown Dallas. (Check out Sushi World, guys. The owner is super nice and the food is plentiful at all hours. It’s delightful.) James took me to my first anime convention. It was not everything I’d ever been told about anime conventions, but we had a lot of fun. And most recently we went to Vegas. Strangely claustrophobic, often very loud, but surprisingly walkable and very much a walking sort of place. We bought a book and got it signed at the Mob Museum by one of the authors of “Cullotta”, who just happened to be Frank Cullotta himself. We only thought to wonder who he was after we’d talked with him for a bit and taken a picture with him. He was really nice.

We took a picture with Mr. Frank Cullotta and he personalized one of his books for us before we actually knew who he was.

So, yes, lots of adventuring. Much of it unexpected. Just about all of it pretty shiny (with the exception of the thing with James’ wisdom teeth). I will try my best to update again soon, hopefully with an All Hallow’s Read gift for you all. On to see what else is out there!